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Jesus replaced with a Gregg's sausage roll.

(1001 Posts)
Day6 Fri 17-Nov-17 13:25:32

The Guardian would have us believe that only 'flaky' Christians are likely to be upset by Gregg's depiction of the Nativity, placing a sausage roll in the manger.

So, Christians are 'flaky" (oh so witty, not) to be upset?

I am no longer a church-goer but I was brought up as a Christian, as were many of us I suspect, and I am offended that Greggs think it is OK to offend as they have. Not only that, journalists like this oh so lofty sneering one place the blame for any offence on silly Christians who are obviously not normal if they have faith.

It really sickens me, this media hatred of certain groups when some are beyond criticism.

One journalist suggested all religions are open to parody and it is par for the course. I'd suggest otherwise. Make fun of Mohammed and you'll be blown to smithereens. Think Charlie Hebdo.

The hilarity the defaced manger scene has caused over the internet puzzles me. Greggs in their insensitivity have become the comic heroes and Christians, for believing in Christ's lowly birth, are the idiotic 'right wing' reactionaries, according to left wing media.

I am cross at the power of social media to dictate what we should think, but also on behalf of my truly lovely Christian friends. One told me she has 'turned the other cheek'.

How do you feel?

Anniebach Sat 18-Nov-17 18:38:22

Not allowed to criticise religious beliefs Jen? You suffer from amnesia perhaps? Or skip many threads ? But in fairness the faiths of .jews, and Muslims are never criticised, the venom is stored for Christianity

maryeliza54 Sat 18-Nov-17 18:38:06

Oh lemon have you any idea how pathetic and one sided your posts sound? You just love having a go at me

durhamjen Sat 18-Nov-17 18:37:06

Lemon, when did you last eat a Greggs sausage roll?

lemongrove Sat 18-Nov-17 18:27:35

Maryeliza .....Always being so angry cannot be good for you, as Bercow always says at PMQ’s.
The thread is about something a company have done and not to go off on one ( as you did) about what you perceive as the many evils of Christianity.
You are about as sensitive as Greggs .

TerriBull Sat 18-Nov-17 18:23:37

Lilyflower "if it had been a transgender roll" no doubt the thread would have been reported to GN when it would have subsequently been deleted, deemed as justifiably transphobic. Conversely, sod the Christians, if they take offence at this oh so funny and clever campaign, then that's just down to their fragile religious beliefs, snowflakes all of them!

lemongrove Sat 18-Nov-17 18:22:40

Yes Jamila I found the card mentioned by Baggs mildly amusing as well, in a whole different league to the idiotic sausage one.
I don’t know about sausages, but think ( at Greggs) heads will roll.grin

durhamjen Sat 18-Nov-17 18:16:03

Atheist governments did not kill because of atheism. They did not ask people whether they were religious or not before they killed them.
Religious regimes killed other religions, and even the same religion in some cases because of their religion.

Why should religious belief be any different from political belief?
Why should you not be able to criticise religious belief but you can political belief?

maryeliza54 Sat 18-Nov-17 18:14:40

Now why isn’t lemon criticising sky for going off thread? I have no idea

Lazigirl Sat 18-Nov-17 18:07:33

Haven't had a sausage roll for ages but this thread has made me peckish.........

mrshat Sat 18-Nov-17 18:06:54

Grammargran sat18-nov-17 12.06:35 said it just right. What hope for the future I ask.

Skyandblossom Sat 18-Nov-17 18:01:21

Suzied, a quick Google reveals:

Deaths under atheist regimes

‘Mao Ze-Dong (China, 1958-61 and 1966-69, Tibet 1949-50) 49-78,000,00 people murdered

Jozef Stalin (USSR 1932-39 only) 15,000,000 people murdered

Pol Pot (Cambodia, 1975-79) 1,700,000 people murdered

Kim II Sung (North Korea 1948-94) 1.6 million people murdered

Tito (Yugoslavia 1945-1987) 570,000 people murdered

Suharto (Communists 1967-66) 500,000 people murdered

Ante Pavelic (Croatia 1941-45) 359,000 people murdered

Ho Chi Min (Vietnam 1953-56) 200,000 people murdered

Vladimir Ilich Lenin (USSR, 1917-20) 30,000 people murdered

Adolf Hitler (Germany 1939-1945) 12,000,000 people murdered’

[Total roughly 90 million.]

‘[These] are the generally-accepted death counts from atheist regimes of the 20th Century. I think it’s important to note that these figures are the most conservative I could find. For instance, Stalin’s death toll is only for the 1930s.

Hitler is a special case in that he is a right wing rather than a left wing killer. What this means in practice is that Hitler pandered to Christianity in his early rise to power, then took over the churches once he got in power. He enforced this by imprisoning and killing large numbers of bishops and Catholic priests as well as protestants. Anyone who tried to stand for the Gospels in his regime was signing their own death certificate. According to documentaries I’ve seen on the History Channel, Hitler made fun of faith and religious people in private.

In my opinion, claims that Hitler was a Christian at the time he committed these crimes (he may have been as a child, I don’t know) or that Stalin was a Christian, which I’ve also heard, put the claimants in the same intellectual space as holocaust deniers.

Read more at www.patheos.com/blogs/publiccatholic/2013/03/atheist-governments-of-the-20th-century-the-death-toll-of-godless-goodness/#e7fIbCaTX4M6KxDt.99’

Deaths in the name of religion

‘[A]n objective look at history reveals that those killed in the name of religion have, in fact, been a tiny fraction in the bloody history of human conflict. In their recently published book, “Encyclopedia of Wars,” authors Charles Phillips and Alan Axelrod document the history of recorded warfare, and from their list of 1763 wars only 123 have been classified to involve a religious cause, accounting for less than 7 percent of all wars and less than 2 percent of all people killed in warfare. While, for example, it is estimated that approximately one to three million people were tragically killed in the Crusades, and perhaps 3,000 in the Inquisition, nearly 35 million soldiers and civilians died in the senseless, and secular, slaughter of World War 1 alone.

History simply does not support the hypothesis that religion is the major cause of conflict. The wars of the ancient world were rarely, if ever, based on religion. ...

Medieval and Renaissance wars were also typically about control and wealth ...

Most modern wars ... were not religious in nature or cause. While religious groups have been specifically targeted (most notably in World War II), to claim that religion was the cause is to blame the victim and to misunderstand the perpetrators’ motives, which were nationalistic and ethnic, not religious.’

From a Huffington Post article:
www.huffingtonpost.com/rabbi-alan-lurie/is-religion-the-cause-of-_b_1400766.html

I’m sure there’s more out there - I’ve definitely seen a comparison of the two totals somewhere - but I have to go out so have run out of time.

maryeliza54 Sat 18-Nov-17 17:52:49

The Catholic Church in Central/South America has a great deal to answer for in its treatment of women as well - it’s not just Ireland but we know more about that. And it’s N.Ireland as well and the dreadful Protestants there and their hatred and intolerance of women and gay people.

sandelf Sat 18-Nov-17 17:51:41

Agree - complain to the writer.

Jalima1108 Sat 18-Nov-17 17:48:25

sorry, 2017 years (arguably)

maryeliza54 Sat 18-Nov-17 17:48:10

Oh dear lemon - you don’t know me at all so you have no idea about what I enjoy - you really are an absolute hoot

Jalima1108 Sat 18-Nov-17 17:47:26

Apart from any other considerations the sausage roll picture in the calendar was just puerile and probably thought up by someone who thinks he/she is a whole lot more amusing than they are.

The card that Baggs mentioned, however, is mildly amusing: 'It's a girl' . I think many Christians would find it mildly funny, if not hilarious; also thought-provoking as the whole of history for the last 2017 (arguable number I know) could have been quite different.

Oldwoman70 Sat 18-Nov-17 17:46:30

maryeliza All your examples come from Ireland which seems to be slow it catching up with the rest of the world in these matters. I am a Catholic but I disagree with the church in a lot of its edicts (many of which incidentally are man made and don't come from God). You obviously feel great anger towards the church in Ireland but don't tar all Catholics with the same brush.

maryeliza54 Sat 18-Nov-17 17:46:26

So how does misogyny and homophobia represent tolerant values then? When did Christianity become tolerant? I’d really love to know.

lemongrove Sat 18-Nov-17 17:41:19

The Christian ideal and way of life is about tolerance.
Argue away though, it seems that is all you enjoy sadly.

maryeliza54 Sat 18-Nov-17 17:40:47

Hahahaha - here come the thread police - read the OP? Not many threads would survive very long if that was the mantra.

maryeliza54 Sat 18-Nov-17 17:39:14

If someone says that Christianity is about tolerance, I’ll argue that that it isn’t and it has a very long history about intolerance and hatred.

lemongrove Sat 18-Nov-17 17:38:53

Perhaps you should read the OP.

maryeliza54 Sat 18-Nov-17 17:37:53

Oh dear lemon your posts are really losing the plot. As if this thread is just about Greggs.

lemongrove Sat 18-Nov-17 17:34:39

Yes, Maryeliza am sure you would have a bash ( at all sorts of things) that much is clear.
This thread is about Greggs though.

Madgran77 Sat 18-Nov-17 17:27:21

maryeliza you are entitled to your views on Christianity although I would question your implication that all Christians should be lumped together because some have "failed" , as happens in all religions! However I am unclear what your comments have to do with the Greggs advert and the fact that it might offend Christians who hold their beliefs and try to practice their religion well!!

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